So I've been paging through the various FAQs provided at the back of my expansion rulebooks, and I'm curious about a seeming conflict of interest. Taken from the FAQ provided at the back of the Dunwich Horror rulebook:
Q: How exactly do location special abilities work?
A: The investigator may use the printed action on a location rather than draw an encounter card for that location rather than draw an encounter card for that location during the Arkham Encounters Phase. When he does so, he must be able to meet the requirements ( have at least $1 to shop with , or have Clue tokens, gate trophies, or monster trophies to spend, etc.). IN other words, players may not use the special ability of a location if they cannot actually resolve it.
Q: Why wouldn't investigators just camp out at the Curiositie Shoppe and buy the four elder signs?
A: If an investigator shops at the Curiositie Shoppe or General Store, the investigator must purchase one of the three items drawn if he or she has enough money to do so. The other two items drawn are discarded to the bottom of the deck. This makes it significantly harder to "browse" the Unique Item deck looking for elder signs.
Forgive me if I'm mistaken, but I am rather half-asleep at the time of this posting, but do these two items seem to conflict somewhat? You can shop so long as you have $1 on hand, even though we all know that's not going to be worth squat at the Curiositie Shoppe. Even though someone wouldn't be able to buy anything, necessarily, chances of an elder sign showing up are rather slim. Couldn't someone with $1 just hang out and browse through the junk to try and heighten the chance of someone else with more money stopping by at the right moment to grab a sign? I could even foresee a loophole with Pete's ability to draw off the bottom of the deck occurring.
Your thoughts on the subject? Do you think camping for elder signs should be allowed, and if not, how else could the problem be averted?